Top Storylines Heading into Fall Camp

With fall camp set to begin this Wednesday (!) These are some of the top storylines that I will be monitoring throughout fall camp. I will have another blog post as we learn more throughout fall camp!


The Offensive Line 

This might be one of the biggest questions that determines how WSUs football season goes. How good is the offensive line? I am of the belief that the offensive line could be the most improved offensive group this season. Jimmy Rogers and staff brought in absolute units and in the new run heavy scheme it is vital that the OL improves from years past. The OL should have a sufficient amount of depth this year as well.


Is There a QB Battle? 

Is Zevi Eckhaus for sure QB1? The staff brought in 2 intriguing transfers to potentially contend for the QB1 spot. PITT transfer Julian Dugger and Rutgers transfer Ajani Sheppard both have an outside shot to win the position. While I think Zevi is the heavy favorite to be the starter it will be interesting to see if we have a real QB battle this season. It also seems likely that Sheppard or Dugger could get on the field for 2 QB sets. Similar to what we saw with Cam Ward and John Mateer. Also just because Zevi wins it for game 1 doesn't mean it will be his job all season long. Definitely something to keep an eye on. 


The Defensive Line 

Another vital question is how good is the defensive line? Winning the trenches is always critical but seems to be a huge focus in the Jimmy Rogers era. The defensive line has a lot of question marks heading into the season. This will be an important position group to watch throughout fall camp and into the start of the season as well. 


South Dakota State Transfers 

Another interesting thing to watch will be how many South Dakota State transfers win starting jobs? Guys like Tucker Large and Angel Johnson seem like locked-in starters, but it will be interesting to see how many other South Dakota State transfers are able to work their way into a starting role. 


Depth

How is the depth for WSU this season? In years past WSU has been able to get great top end talent on the roster. Problems have come when injuries occur and a lack of depth has been a problem. I am interested to see if the new staff is able to do a better job at building out depth, especially in the trenches.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

19 Cougs Enter the Transfer Portal: Full Breakdown

Image
With the spring transfer portal opening two days ago on April 16th the Cougs have already had 19 players enter the transfer portal. This list should be current up to April 18th at around 4pm.  Djouvensky Schlenbaker  Was a highly touted high school recruit. Appeared in 11 games last season and had 149 yards and three touchdowns. Acted as a great lead blocker for John Mateer. Found himself in a very crowded backfield this spring and probably was not going to see the field a ton this season.  Warren Smith  Appeared in 9 games last season as a backup. Came to Pullman as a highly touted cornerback with offers from 6 Pac12 schools. Another case of being in a very talented potion group and it was likely he wouldn't see the field a ton next season.  Hunter Najam  Redshirted at WSU last season as a preferred walk-on. Found himself battling for reps at the QB position. Was likely to be at least a third or fourth string QB this season.  Carson Osmus  He was...
Read more

Takeaways from WSU Football's Crimson & Gray Showcase: Standouts, Surprises and Spring Game Insights

Image
WSU Football wrapped up its last spring practice today with a slightly different version of the spring game instead calling it the Crimson & Gray Showcase. The 90 minute event had some position drills, a 1 on 1 session, 7 on 7 session and a scrimmage. The scrimmage included two 25 minute periods with the clock running the entire time. The defense and offense were split into two teams and the defense started with a 14-0 lead.  The two touchdown scorers during the scrimmage were redshirt senior receiver Leon Neal Jr. and redshirt sophomore TE Ben Dutton. Leon got open on a nicely lofted 7 yard pass from Zevi Eckhaus and Dutton scored his touchdown after finding himself wide open in the endzone and Jaxon Potter zipped a 10 yard pass to him.  Defensive Standouts  One of the biggest standouts of the defensive end was redshirt freshman DE Ben Beatty. He had at least 2 “sacks” and was getting into the backfield on a consistent basis. Another guy who made some nice plays on t...
Read more

Meet the 16 SDSU to WSU Transfers

Image
Meet the 16 SDSU to WSU Transfers WSU Football had 16 players follow Jimmy Rogers and staff from South Dakota State to Pullman. A lot of these players will be big contributors for the Cougs this season and in the coming seasons as well. Kirby Vorhees (RB) Vorhees comes to WSU as a redshirt sophomore after spending the last two years at SDSU. Vorhees is an extremely talented back who provided a great one-two punch with Angel Johnson at SDSU. Vorhees had 75 carries last season and averaged 7.7 yards per carry. He also added 8 rushing touchdowns to his impressive freshman season. Vorhees should compete for the RB2 role this season and looks to build off a very strong redshirt freshman campaign. Tucker Large (S) Tucker Large is another high-level addition to the WSU roster. Large was a big part of the 2023 SDSU team that won an FCS national championship. Large comes to WSU after taking a redshirt season, spending the last four years at SDSU. Multiple coaches have raved about him, and he ha...
Read more